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Town looking to market lots more

Wednesday, 8 January 2014 - 3:56pm

By Duane Hicks

None of the 16 lots comprising the new Huffman subdivision have been purchased yet but the town is poised to embark on a campaign to market the properties—and Fort Frances, in general, as a place to live and do business.
“There’s about four people that we’re talking to right now,” noted Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig.

“We do have interested parties but . . . are people taking out permits or putting up the money? Not yet,” he admitted.
“But we’re working on stuff to market these lots more,” McCaig stressed. “We want to develop a brochure and get it out.
“Kind of a district-wide thing just to show the merits of living in Fort Frances; that we do have these lots.
“We’d like some activity,” McCaig added.
“We’re hearing that there’s been some construction related to the [gold] mine, with houses, and maybe some purchases, and we want to take advantage of that, too, if we can,” he explained.
The Huffman subdivision consists of six lots fronting Williams Avenue and 10 on a new cul-de-sac named “Huffman Court.”
The first phase of work on the lots wrapped up in late fall, and they now are fully-serviced with water, sewer, power, and natural gas, as well as building permit-ready.
Curbing, gutters, and paving, all of which is included in the current lot price, will take place next year.
The town is accepting a 10 percent deposit for the lots. Buyers then have five building seasons to construct their new home.
For more information, contact municipal planner Faye Flatt at 274-5323 ext. 275 or via e-mail at fflatt@fort-frances.com
As previously reported, the town went ahead with the Huffman subdivision to meet the need for affordable housing lots within the community.
There have been no new subdivision developments by the private sector here since 1994.
In recent years, the town has become aware that numerous homes were constructed outside its municipal boundaries because of the lack of lots in Fort Frances.
The New Gold project north of Barwick also will create a need for more housing in the next couple of years.